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Step into the shadowy side of classic Hollywood as we delve into some of the most perplexing and chilling mysteries that have haunted Tinseltown for decades. From untimely deaths shrouded in suspicion to disappearances that left fans puzzled, these iconic cases continue to fascinate and baffle historians and movie buffs alike. Join us as we unravel stories filled with intrigue, suspicion, and unanswered questions.
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00:00Is it tough for you to protect your privacy?
00:02Well, it's easy with the boat because you can get on the boat and within minutes, you know, you're away.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at some of the most enduring stories and cases from the classic
00:14Hollywood era, many of which still intrigue historians today.
00:18You were the front page news of every paper for two months.
00:25I really did become somebody.
00:29How did Albert Decker die?
00:31In addition to getting involved in politics, Albert Decker's acting career spanned the stage and silver screen.
00:37His final film role would be as Pat Harrigan in The Wild Bunch, which was posthumously released a year after
00:42he died in 1968.
00:44Do better next time!
00:47When do you think you say, Mr. Jackman, but we sure would appreciate a little liquor money for tonight.
00:51There won't be any tonight!
00:53Decker's fiancée, Jeldine Saunders, found his body hanging in the bathroom.
00:57Making the case even more unusual, as the authorities put it, Decker was dressed in ladies' lingerie with obscenities written
01:03on his body and red lipstick.
01:05Although money and some belongings were missing, there seemed to be no signs of forced entry or foul play.
01:10The coroner wasn't convinced Decker's death was self-inflicted either.
01:13While auto-erotic asphyxiation supposedly led to his accidental death, much of Decker's demise and life remains clouded in mystery.
01:21I will tell you where to take it, but don't.
01:28Don't open the box.
01:36Was Carol Lombard's plane sabotaged?
01:39Aside from her marriage to fellow screen legends William Powell and Clark Gable, Carol Lombard was celebrated for her work
01:45in screwball comedies, most notably My Man Godfrey.
01:48The world was in disbelief when Lombard died in a plane crash.
01:50Out of a mist of uncertainty, searchers report sudden death on a snow-clad peak near Las Vegas, Nevada.
01:5622 victims, including 15 army flyers and Carol Lombard and her mother.
02:01Lombard was returning from a war bond tour, planning to reunite with Gable in LA.
02:05While the cause was attributed to a pilot error, some believe the crash was an act of sabotage.
02:10Orson Welles claimed that he heard through the grapevine that Nazis shot the plane down.
02:14Biographer Robert Mattson also noted that the FBI reportedly received tips about a bomb being planted.
02:19All I have to say is some people will be sorry someday.
02:22Well, naturally, everybody will be sorry someday.
02:25For what?
02:27Some people will know for what.
02:28Who stabbed Johnny Stampanato?
02:31While actress Lana Turner had several high-profile partners, none proved more infamous than gangster John Stampanato.
02:37An enforcer of Mickey Cohen, Stampanato was reportedly abusive toward Turner.
02:41Well, he was threatening her life.
02:44And this wasn't the first episode of this?
02:46No, and there was no doubt in my mind that he was serious.
02:49This man's voice in anger was so chilling.
02:54The situation supposedly culminated in Turner's daughter, Cheryl Crane, fatally stabbing Stampanato to protect her mother during a fight.
03:01While this act was deemed justifiable homicide, not everyone was convinced.
03:05According to a Time article, one of Stampanato's friends accused Turner of using the knife.
03:09This fed into theory that Turner actually killed Stampanato, but Crane took credit to make it look like self-defense.
03:15I mean, there were so many rumors going around, and it's the same today.
03:21The conspiracy theories, you know, that we hear all the time.
03:25Nobody wants to believe the truth.
03:27Even if that's never been proven, hairdresser Eric Root claims Turner confessed to him.
03:31Crane chalked Root's claims up to a cash grab, yet we may never know for sure.
03:35You have to learn to cope with it. You have to learn to accept it for what it was, and
03:39that took me many years to do that.
03:42Who killed the masked Marvel?
03:44Actor David Bacon was perhaps best known for his work in the 1943 film serial The Masked Marvel.
03:50Bacon apparently got the role of Bob Barton after four others in line for the part were injured.
03:55After being the only actor who didn't get hurt during a fight scene,
03:58Bacon supposedly joked that something bad would probably happen to him while going home in his car that night.
04:02You'll feel foolish if this is a false alarm.
04:05No doubt.
04:06Get him up.
04:15Hearts in the hall, let him in.
04:17Two weeks after filming wrapped, Bacon was seen emerging from his car wearing a swimsuit and covered in blood, dying
04:22shortly after.
04:24Unlike his character, the identity of Bacon's killer has never been unmasked.
04:27The murder weapon was never found either.
04:29Adding further intrigue, Bacon filed a new will three months before his death.
04:34Did you find any other clues?
04:35Only this in Janssen's pocket.
04:37It looks like a code message, and I think it's important because it's dated today.
04:42Was Thomas Ince's death meant for Charlie Chaplin?
04:45Thomas H. Ince was a significant figure in the rise of silent film, being declared the father of the Western.
04:50Ince became gravely ill while aboard the private yacht of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst.
04:55The newspaper read, Big Hawk shot Hollywood producer shot dead on Hearst's boat.
05:01But then, the evening edition said, ha ha ha, whoops, just kidding.
05:07He actually died of heart failure in Hearst's home.
05:12So yeah, weird.
05:13But things get more confusing.
05:16Among the other passengers on board was Charlie Chaplin.
05:19While Ince officially died from heart failure upon returning to land, it's been widely suggested that he was murdered.
05:25Ince wasn't the intended target, however.
05:27The most popular theory is that Hearst shot Ince, but he was aiming for Chaplin.
05:31Toraichi Kono, Chaplin's driver, claims that he saw Ince bleeding, although there's no definitive proof of a bullet wound.
05:37Nevertheless, it's still debated whether Ince died from natural causes, or if his death is part of a larger cover
05:42-up.
05:43Reputations are so fragile.
05:46It's just terrible.
05:48They'll link Tom's innocent ulcers to every secret every one of us have ever kept, and drag us all down.
05:57So, I'm asking you to join me in an oath of silence.
06:04What happened to Sean Flynn?
06:05The son of swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn, Sean Flynn followed in his father's footsteps with roles in films like The
06:11Son of Captain Blood.
06:13Sean Flynn also worked as a photojournalist, serving as a correspondent during the Vietnam War.
06:17Le reporter Sean Flynn, qui nous a rejoint en vélo moteur, nous signale les mouvements de troupes Viet Cong dans
06:23notre dos.
06:23Ultime tentative pour se rapprocher davantage de la voiture et avoir de plus ample information sur le sort des passagers.
06:30Flynn became the story when he went missing in Cambodia with fellow photojournalist Dana Stone.
06:35Both decided to take motorcycles rather than travel with other journalists in limos.
06:39Flynn and Stone were last seen around a Highway 1 checkpoint, where communist guerrillas captured them.
06:44While we can likely fill in the blanks, it's hard to say precisely what happened since their bodies were never
06:49found,
06:50despite the efforts of Flynn's mother, Willie Demita.
06:53In any case, Flynn and Stone would eventually be declared legally dead.
06:56Of everybody, I assumed my brother would survive.
07:00This did not happen, and for the last 40 years, I've been trying to figure out what to do.
07:06How do you find a needle in a haystack?
07:09How do you find somebody in Cambodia?
07:13Georgette Bauerdorff's Strangler
07:14Oil heiress Georgette Bauerdorff moved to the West Coast in hopes of making it as an actress,
07:19finding work as a hostess at the Hollywood canteen.
07:22After work one night, Bauerdorff spent a few hours at a club before heading home,
07:26where she expected a call from her boyfriend in Texas.
07:28On the way, she picked up Gordon Adlant, a hitchhiking soldier.
07:32The following morning, Bauerdorff was found dead in her soundproofed apartment,
07:35her face floating in a bathtub.
07:37According to his story, she dropped him off on Sunset Boulevard and then went along her way,
07:42Adlant was ruled out as a suspect after his story was verified,
07:45and it was proven he was elsewhere when the crime took place.
07:48That, however, doesn't mean that Georgette couldn't have come upon another soldier
07:52when she got closer to home and either offered a ride or maybe a place to stay.
07:57Based on the autopsy, Bauerdorff resisted as she was sexually assaulted
08:00and strangled with a bandage lodged down her throat.
08:03While $100 was missing, Bauerdorff's assailant could have taken more money and valuables.
08:08Over 80 years later, the motive remains a mystery, along with the killer's identity.
08:12Georgette knew a lot of soldiers, she was an oil heiress,
08:15and she had a tendency to go out of her way to try and help and support soldiers
08:19while also being attracted to men in uniform.
08:22The possibilities there are pretty extensive.
08:24Did Dorothy Millett kill Paul Byrne?
08:26A producer who worked with the lives of Irving Thalberg,
08:29Paul Byrne also helped make Jean Harlow a star at MGM.
08:32Not long after she signed with MGM in 1932, Harlow wedded Byrne.
08:37Their marriage ended two months later when Byrne was found at their Beverly Hills home,
08:41having taken a gunshot to the head.
08:42Although Byrne seemingly left a note behind, many questioned whether it was authentic.
08:46Of course it was shocking.
08:48It was, people wondered why, and we never did know why.
08:53I don't know why to this day.
08:55While there are various theories surrounding his death,
08:57fellow MGM employee Samuel Marks believed that Byrne's former employee,
09:01Dorothy Millett, murdered him.
09:03Millett had struggled with mental health and took her own life two days after Byrne's death.
09:07Supposedly, MGM tampered with the evidence to make Byrne's death look self-inflicted
09:11so as not to hurt Harlow's career.
09:13Jean Harlow herself calls MGM publicity chief Howard Strickling with the news of Byrne's death.
09:18Strickling picks Harlow up and drives her to Mother Jean's house,
09:22where she's instructed to feign shock when informed of the tragedy.
09:26Within an hour, Louis B. Mayer, David O. Selznick, and Irving Thalberg meet Strickling
09:31on Easton Drive to begin damage control.
09:33Was Ted Healy beaten to death?
09:35The Three Stooges started as a vaudeville act with Ted Healy and Moe Howard.
09:39Ted Healy and his Stooges paved the way for the Three Stooges franchise.
09:42Even after parting with the Stooges,
09:44Healy's career showed no signs of slowing down until he died in 1937.
09:50Noontime means luncheon for someone.
09:57Nighttime means sleep for the same.
10:03While MGM attributed this to a heart attack, Healy reportedly had visible injuries.
10:08It was relayed to Moe Howard that Healy got into a fight with three younger men, resulting in his death.
10:13Another account claimed that the alleged attackers were Wallace Beery, Pat DiCicco, and Albert R.
10:18Broccoli, the latter of whom admitted to getting physical with Healy.
10:21While nephritis was deemed the official cause of death,
10:24it's still speculated whether his beating was more than a rumor.
10:26One writer interviewed two individuals connected with the trio.
10:30They had not spoken to one another in over 35 years.
10:35Both told the author a similar tale of being present when Healy phoned to accuse a major MGM star of
10:42beating him.
10:43Did Lionel Ray Williams kill Sal Minio?
10:46It's eerie how all three main actors from Rebel Without a Cause died tragically.
10:50James Dean, of course, perished in an ill-fated car accident, and we'll talk about Natalie Wood soon enough.
10:56Then there was Sal Minio, who was stabbed in the chest by a mugger in 1976.
11:01I like to work at night, and that's about the only kind of organized thing that I have.
11:08When I say night, I mean like from 1 in the morning until about 4 in the morning.
11:12Minio was returning home from a rehearsal, dying not far from his apartment after parking.
11:16Lionel Ray Williams was found guilty of Minio's killing, among other crimes like robbery.
11:20Although Williams supposedly bragged to his cellmates about killing Minio, he also maintained he was innocent.
11:26Since Williams was released from prison in 1990, more people have argued that the authorities got the wrong guy,
11:31even inspiring the documentary Unseen Innocence.
11:34The security guard across the street, who was posted in front of the apartment building,
11:41he identified a white man jumping in that car.
11:45I don't look white. I don't give a damn how.
11:48You know, I'm not white.
11:50The end of an icon.
11:52We'll probably never truly know the circumstances surrounding the death of Norma Jean Mortensen,
11:57better known as Marilyn Monroe.
11:58Although her demise has officially been attributed to self-destruction,
12:02conspiracy theories continue to swirl around Monroe's barbiturate overdose on the evening of August 4th, 1962.
12:08Who was actually at the house?
12:10And what were they doing? Why were they there?
12:12Monroe's private life was a subject of equal speculation,
12:16particularly her romantic involvements, mental health struggles, and issues with substance dependency.
12:21Everyone from organized crime to the FBI has been accused at one point or another of having some sort of
12:27hand in Monroe's death.
12:28The man that really was involved was the boss.
12:33He was the attorney general of the United States, so he could have the FBI do anything.
12:36Up until now, none of these claims have arrived with any factual evidence.
12:40Still, the mystery continues to haunt Monroe's legions of fans to this day.
12:44Everything that I would see...
12:49end.
12:53I...
12:56I wanted to know.
12:58Virginia Rappé and Fatty Arbuckle.
13:00It was a scandal that ruined the career of one actor and cost the life of another.
13:04We're discussing the reported liaison between silent film stars Virginia Rappé and Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle.
13:10The pair encountered each other at a party held by Arbuckle at his hotel suite on September 5th, 1921.
13:16Some sources say that she started screaming at the party, and when her friends asked her, like,
13:21What's wrong? What's wrong?
13:22She started yelling, He did it!
13:24Others say that once she started feeling sick, she just went home and immediately hopped into bed, and she just
13:29never got out.
13:30Rappé had visited the suite with an acquaintance, Bambina Maude Delmont,
13:34a woman with a litigious reputation who accused Arbuckle of attacking Virginia at the party.
13:38It was further alleged that the encounter led to Rappé's death four days later,
13:42due to secondary peritonitis and a ruptured bladder.
13:45The actor was taken into police custody.
13:47This happened despite most of the evidence, including the autopsy, having yet to arrive.
13:52Arbuckle was acquitted of all charges,
13:54while witnesses at the trial asserted that Rappé's death was actually due to previous conditions of cystitis and venereal disease.
14:00Not only was he found not guilty, but the jury took just five minutes to reach that verdict,
14:05much of which was spent writing an unprecedented apology note to Arbuckle.
14:09The death of William Desmond Taylor.
14:11The murder of William Desmond Taylor was a Hollywood scandal that occurred concurrently with the headline-grabbing fatty Arbuckle trial.
14:18Taylor's case may be lesser known, but it remains an intriguing Hollywood mystery.
14:22Taylor was well-liked, respected, and seen as a leading filmmaker.
14:27Taylor himself even starred in one of the first feature films that would define Hollywood.
14:33The prolific silent film director was found dead at his Los Angeles apartment on February 2, 1922.
14:40Strangeness occurred almost immediately when someone identifying themselves as a doctor suddenly appeared from the crowd
14:46and pronounced Taylor's death due to a stomach hemorrhage.
14:48This was despite the bullet hole that would soon be found on the director's back.
14:53Based on the placement of the bullet holes in Taylor's jacket and vest, officials conclude that his arms were raised
15:00at the time he was shot.
15:02Bizarrely, the police would later consider this could mean Taylor was embracing somebody, who then shot him in the back.
15:10There was clearly foul play here, with a laundry list of well-known Hollywood types with all potential motives to
15:17kill Taylor.
15:18Yet, thanks to alleged corruption and crime scene disruption, the case was never solved.
15:22An intertwined web of stardom, lust, jealousy, and rage set against the backdrop of the false facade of glitz and
15:30glamour in an immoral Hollywood.
15:33In the end, all we can do is take a guess as to who was truly responsible.
15:38Pasolini, a murdered maverick.
15:40And what are your enemies?
15:43I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
15:48I feel every time some of the waves of enemies, sometimes inexplicable, that I don't want to take care of
15:55much.
15:56Pier Paolo Pasolini was one of the most daring and unique Italian film directors of his day.
16:01He became infamous for his 1970 film Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom,
16:06a raging political piece notable for its intensely graphic content.
16:17Tragically, Pasolini's real-life death was equally graphic and shockingly violent.
16:21The filmmaker was burned, physically attacked, and run over multiple times by his own car.
16:26The man initially arrested for Pasolini's murder, Giuseppe Pelosi, claimed that his confession was coerced.
16:32Further investigation led to the theory that Pasolini was being extorted by unknown assailants,
16:37and, today, those responsible for his murder have yet to be brought to justice.
16:41You are out of the borders of any illegality.
16:44No one on Earth knows that you are here.
16:47For everything that concerns the world, you are already dead.
16:51George Reeves, the first Superman.
16:53The life and death of George Reeves was dramatized in the 2006 film Hollywoodland,
16:58and it remains a compelling Golden Age mystery.
17:01Can you help me understand?
17:05Will you please help me?
17:07Did you know George?
17:11Why don't you tell me about him?
17:13Reeves was the first actor to play Superman during the 1950s, and quickly gained a fan following for his work.
17:19However, it was alleged that Reeves was depressed due to his personal finances and typecasting as the Man of Steel.
17:25But George, that's all you were good for.
17:27Ten-year-olds and shut-ins.
17:29That was the best you were ever going to be.
17:32I knew that.
17:34Why didn't you?
17:36Reeves died of a gunshot wound on June 16th, 1959,
17:39with many arguing as to whether it was self-inflicted.
17:42The crime scene investigation was messy from the start,
17:45thanks to bullet and fingerprint evidence that potentially shifted Reeves' cause of death away from self-destruction.
17:50The fact that Reeves' demise occurred during a party at his home
17:53resulted in multiple conflicting statements from guests.
17:56There is evidence to support murder.
17:58The only people who know how George Reeves died are no longer with us.
18:03Who killed Bob Crane?
18:05It was a particularly grisly crime,
18:07and police are no closer to solving the murder
18:09of one of America's most popular TV characters of the 1960s.
18:13The case of Bob Crane was another that featured the Hollywood dramatization treatment,
18:18this time with 2002's autofocus.
18:20The film offered further, albeit speculatory, evidence of a theory behind Bob Crane's murder.
18:25It claimed that Crane's friend, John Henry Carpenter, was responsible for the murder.
18:30The theory further alleges that Carpenter and the Hogan's Heroes star had some sort of a falling out
18:35after the former routinely assisted Crane in videotaping his numerous sexual encounters.
18:40The sex thing, the patty thing, the fruit thing, I don't even recognize my own life anymore.
18:45Carpenter was arrested and ultimately acquitted of the murder in 1994.
18:49Yet there remains those who are committed to this narrative that John Henry Carpenter killed Bob Crane.
18:54But if it wasn't Carpenter, then who was it?
18:57The case is still open, police still looking for leads, but all sides agree
19:01it'll probably remain one of Hollywood's most brutal, unsolved murder mysteries.
19:06Thelma Todd, accident or self-destruction.
19:09Thelma Todd stood out amongst even the most glamorous of Golden Age Hollywood superstars.
19:13This was not only thanks to her reputable beauty,
19:16but also her brief but prolific career on the silver screen.
19:19You always do what you want, don't you?
19:21I always know what I want, and usually get it.
19:25However, her body was found inside her car on the morning of December 16th, 1935.
19:30Todd had perished from carbon monoxide poisoning, yet many of those who knew her suspected no
19:35inclination of self-destruction within Todd's demeanor, with friends at the time claiming
19:39the actress was in good spirits.
19:41Her restaurant was a hot new success.
19:43She had recently signed a new film contract, and the trunk of her car was full of Christmas
19:48presents for family and friends.
19:50Additionally, the body was found within a garage owned by actress Jewel Carmen, whose
19:55husband, director Roland West, was having an affair with Todd.
19:58It was the sort of messy Hollywood mystery that was never going to result in any clear-cut
20:02answers.
20:03While her death was officially ruled an accident, there are enough suspicious incongruencies
20:09in her final hours to keep her story alive these more than 80 years later.
20:14Where is Jean Spangler?
20:15The aspiring actress Jean Spangler has been missing for over 70 years now, with little to
20:20no evidence emerging as to whatever happened to this mother and performer.
20:23I'm going to a movie shoot, and I have to also go by my ex-husband's house to see if
20:33I can get an increase in my child support payments.
20:35She never came home.
20:38Spangler disappeared on the night of October 7th, 1949, after stopping off at a grocery
20:43store on her way to meet her ex-husband.
20:45Her purse was later recovered with a note to someone only mentioned as Kirk.
20:48The note said, Kirk can't wait any longer, going to see Dr. Scott.
20:56It'll work out best this way.
20:58Speculation has led to the theory that the Kirk in question was Kirk Douglas, with whom
21:02Spangler had worked on set.
21:04The theory further insinuated that Jean was planning to terminate a pregnancy.
21:08Still, others claimed that mobsters associated with Spangler's workplace were to blame.
21:12The case is still open today, but the mystery remains as to where exactly is Jean Spangler.
21:17It's sad that there's no ending to it, when the body's not found.
21:21There's no ending.
21:22And you wonder, hmm, I wonder who killed her.
21:28If she is killed, we don't even know that.
21:31Goodbye, Natalie Wood.
21:33What happened?
21:33What actually took place?
21:35What really actually did happen?
21:37The life of Natalie Wood was one of intense highs and lows.
21:40On one hand, Wood was a beloved actor with legions of fans who flocked to see her films.
21:45On the other, she reportedly suffered an assault from an unnamed Hollywood heavyweight at a
21:49young age.
21:50And her death by drowning was steeped in speculation.
21:53Do you believe Natalie Wood was murdered?
21:56I think it's suspicious enough to make us think that something happened.
22:00Wood, who reportedly couldn't swim and was terrified of water, was found on November 29th,
22:051981, after a yachting excursion.
22:07Wood's tumultuous marriage to actor Robert Wagner was also placed in the spotlight, while the presence
22:13of Christopher Walken on the boat further had fans asking who knew what and when.
22:17It's still unclear as to how exactly Natalie made it into the water and what happened that
22:22night.
22:22We have not been able to prove that this was a homicide, and we haven't been able to prove
22:28that this was an accident either.
22:30The ultimate problem is we don't know how she ended up in the water.
22:34The Black Dahlia.
22:35It's one of the most infamous and gruesome cold cases of all time.
22:39It's the Black Dahlia, also known as Elizabeth Short, the Hollywood acting hopeful whose
22:44death continues to obsess true crime historians.
22:47I kind of had hopes of being a star, but ended up kind of freeloading off of a bunch of
22:51different
22:52people, you know, having what is today called a sugar daddy, and it kind of got her into
22:56a lot of trouble with a bunch of different men that are possible suspects in this case.
23:02The murder of Short is remembered today for its shocking violence, with her nude body grotesquely
23:07imposed and drained of blood with near-surgical precision.
23:10Additionally, the wealth of misinformation and tabloid titillation regarding the case
23:14impeded official investigations as to what exactly occurred.
23:17Police had to sift through 500 tips coming in from people described as an array of housewives,
23:22soldiers, winos, farmers, and clergymen.
23:25Even decades later, the LAPD has said that they still receive around half a dozen confessions
23:29every year.
23:30Meanwhile, the investigation was also marred by instances such as when a prime suspect,
23:35embalming assistant Leslie Dillon, was held against his will and not given the right
23:39to an attorney.
23:40This information does little sadly for Short, whose killer will likely never be brought to
23:44justice.
23:45Douglas notes that so much information can be ascertained from the murderer's interactions
23:50and time he spent with the body, that today, the crime would be quote, very solvable.
23:55Which unsolved mystery do you think would make a fascinating movie?
23:58Let us know in the comments.
24:03What's the case or aάλ views, supposedly passing them by?
24:05LAPD
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